Rating: 
Summary: A real page burner!
Review: This was my introduction to Laymon, and what an introduction! This book is wonderfully suspensful, with the freshest take on vampires since Anne Rice. It examines the question of what is a monster in a way I've never seen before, and it kept me up until 2 a.m. to find out what happened next.
Rating: 
Summary: In Your Chest, um, Face Horror, How Sweet It Is!
Review: This was the first book of Richard Laymon's that I read, and if all his books are like this he's just earned himself another fan. The use of explicit violence and sex was so different from what most mainstream writers will allow (or be allowed, grrr, editors) in their books. The unabashed approach to horror and the use of rape (which is pretty high up there on my list of fears) is something not usually found in mainstream Horror. I can only think of one other author to pull out all the stops like this and that would have to be Bentley Little.The way Laymon makes humans out to be more terrifying monsters than anything supernatural was great. Reading this was like watching some B-grade horror flick and I loved it. This book was near impossible to put down, I had to force myself to get some sleep. A highly original vampire tale that is not for the weak-stomached. I am definitely looking forward to reading more of Richard Laymon's work in the future, and if you take this book for a spin you will too.
Rating:
Summary: God bless Laymon!
Review: We shall dearly miss this departed master of the macabre. "The Stake" is one of his better efforts. There are truely horrific moments where reality itself seems distorted. At his heart, Laymon was a gleefull artisan of "pulp" horror. In fact, he was one of the grand masters of the tradition followed by new authors like Harry Shannon (the brilliant 'Night of the Beast') and Brian Keene ('The Rising'). "The Stake" is up there with "The Cellar" as a solid, fun romp through hormones and horror.
Rating:
Summary: Sticks like wood in a vampire to your brain!
Review: What a fun book to read! After reading this, I went out & bought 3 other novels by Laymon. Quick, effective, witty prose & a white knuckled plot that never takes itself too seriously while nearly mocking the vampire craze that was inundated WAY too many writers, The Stake is a one time sitting, if you have a few hours to spare. 2 normal couples find a withered corpse with a stake driven through it & devise a plan to write a book about their "vampire", all the while, half joking about people actually believing in them. Read all you can of this man!
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